


Angels Always Send a Star

by ThoughtWarfare



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Kitty-Daddy, Multi, guaranteed one-shot, memories of better times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-15 11:14:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8054137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThoughtWarfare/pseuds/ThoughtWarfare
Summary: "I came to find you, Adrien Agreste. They say you were the best. I want you to train me."





	Angels Always Send a Star

**Author's Note:**

> the story was inspired by a great scene in Creed. it's a good movie.
> 
> the title comes from the lyrics of 'When You're Alone'

It was funny, in a way. One of Adrien's most fervent dreams had been to celebrate his birthday with a party, a _real_ party with friends and unhealthy food and games and dancing. Now, here he was on his fortieth birthday, his mansion full of partygoers, and he was hiding out on a balcony.

Alone.

The video he was watching came to an end, so he leaned over to where his phone was laying on the table beside him and keyed it to start the next one. The wall in front of him lit up with a new projected image of a beautiful, high-definition spring day, and he leaned back in his chair. A figure in electric blue flitted back and forth across the view, his voice coming across as small and tinny from the phone's speaker, the sound of the rattling chains on his costume completely lost. Adrien smiled as he remembered that. His smile grew as two new figures leaped into view, one in black and the other polka-dotted red. They were saying something, talking more to each other than the goofball in blue, but the recording had been made at a distance, so their words were too faint for the phone's sound system.

That was okay, though. Adrien remembered exactly what they were saying.

He raised his glass and knocked back the rest of the sparkling cider within. As he continued to watch the video, the chatty pair now fighting against the guy in blue, he considered going back to his party and grabbing something else to drink. Something perhaps a little stronger than the cider. He immediately dismissed the thought, reminding himself that he didn't want a real drink because he didn't like what he became when he drank. He made the choice to stay where he was and let it pass from his mind.

"Copy Protection, September 2nd," an accented voice came from behind him. "The akuma was in the memory card on his belt."

Adrien had his walking stick in his hand before the intruder had finished talking, but he merely clutched the top with feigned nonchalance. His house was full of people, after all - the elite of Paris, everyone who ever made a business deal involving the _Gabriel_ brand, and anyone else whose contact information Adrien could acquire - and it wouldn't do to attack one of them simply for intruding on a very private moment with no warning.

He turned slowly in his chair and put on his old modelling smile. "That's right. You know your stuff."

It turned out that his intruder was actually a pair of intruders. Two teenagers of clear Chinese decent were standing beside the sliding door that led back into the mansion, one as bold and confident as the other was shy and shrinking. The girl wore a dress of red and black that was practically glowing in the night air (with matching handbag, of course), while the boy was practically done up in camouflage with the way his dark gray tuxedo blended with the darkness.

Adrien was surprised to find that he recognized the girl. As few dealings as he tried to have with the _Gabriel_ brand these days, he'd have to have been living under a rock not to be aware of Wang Haoyun as the biggest teenage model in the world right now.

She smiled at him even as her gaze remained glued to the projected image. "I know my stuff," she repeated. "I am a fan of Ladybug."

Adrien laughed.

That finally got her full attention. "You think I lie?"

"No." He relaxed his grip on his walking stick, but didn't let go of it. "I'm just amused. I thought they stopped making Ladybug fans before you were born. You're- what, fifteen?"

"And a half."

"Fifteen and a half. Then Ladybug disappeared six years before you were born."

She was a good model, all right. She conveyed a sense of quiet indignation with nothing more than a slight lifting of her chin. "You watch videos. So why can't I watch videos?"

"You can watch videos. Does your friend over there watch videos?"

The boy practically jumped out of his skin at suddenly being mentioned. His blush was visible even in the low light here on the balcony, and his nod had a shaky quality. "Her brother. And yes, I watch videos."

"My twin brother," Haoyun clarified. "Wang Mantou."

Adrien nodded. They had the same blue eyes. "Pleased to meet you, Mantou. So is there a specific reason I shouldn't have you escorted back to my birthday party, or were you just hoping that all Ladybug fans stick together?"

Haoyun eyed him for a long moment before she spoke again. "I came to find you, Adrien Agreste. They say you were the best. I want you to train me."

"Train you?!" Adrien reached over to pause the video. It seemed he wasn't going to be getting rid of his uninvited guests anytime soon. "You're already a bigger deal than I ever was. You've even starred in movies, right? The only time I ever did that was for a high school project."

"That is not what I mean, Adrien Agreste." Rather than elaborating, she looked back to the frozen image on the wall. Cat Noir was standing in front of Ladybug, in the process of being wrapped up in energy chains. Ladybug wore an aghast expression. "Is it true, what is said about them? That they were lovers?"

Adrien was having a hard time keeping track of this conversation. "No, they weren't lovers. They were just kids."

Haoyun shrugged. "Kids can love. I have seen videos, and he is always sacrificing himself for her."

"Cat Noir was an air-headed flirt who never had a thought he didn't ignore." Adrien couldn't hide a smile at his self-assessment. "They weren't lovers."

Haoyun stepped over to the projection, and touched the spot on the wall where Ladybug's expression of horror was. "She cared for him. His pain caused her pain."

"Yeah, Ladybug was a sweetheart that way. I have no doubt that she was very, very fond of Cat Noir, but her last appearance was two years before his. She disappeared when the akumas stopped coming, while Cat Noir stuck around like a stray hoping someone would feed him. Doesn't sound like they flew off into the sunset, does it?"

Abruptly, Haoyun spun to face him. "Train me. They say you are the best."

What, did she think that a quick conversation about Ladybug would endear her to him? Had she looked up old videos online just as a way to keep a conversation with him going? Fine, then he'd get practical about it. He leaned on his walking stick and heaved himself to his feet, standing as tall as he could. With one hand clutching the walking stick, he held out his other hand flat in front of him.

"See this?" He nodded at the way it shook visibly. "I might have been a good model back in the day, but that's over. When I was your age, I pulled too many stupid stunts and hit my head too many times. I had thought I healed from each one, but they all just took a while to catch up with me. I can't strike a pose anymore. I can't stay on my feet for hours at a time. There's nothing I can teach you about modeling, nothing that you can't learn from anyone else with more than a month of experience."

Her blue eyes locked on his with startling intensity as she said, "I am not talking about modeling." She tilted her head towards the projected image on the wall, of the glory days of Ladybug and Cat Noir. "I want to know how they did what they did."

Ah.

Adrien lowered his one hand as a distraction while his other flipped the hidden switch in his walking stick that would silently unlock the rapier hidden within it. All he would have to do is pull on the head, and he'd have a deadly weapon ready to go. "And why would I know anything about a pair of superheroes from decades ago?"

He expected hostility or pleading, but not the way Haoyun nervously fiddled with the small purse in her hands. Before she could say anything, though, her brother stepped forward and bowed his head to Adrien. "Please, sir," Mantou said, "She was our mother."

Oh.

_Oh._

Blue eyes, huh?

Adrien deflated with a sigh, sinking back into his chair and letting his walking stick clatter to the ground. "Does your father know you're here?"

Haoyun nodded. "He wished us luck."

Luck. Adrien couldn't contain a bitter laugh. Now that he understood the situation, so many things were becoming clear. "I must be rusty. 'Haoyun?' You're literally named 'Good Luck.' And of course the boy is named after a pastry."

Haoyun actually giggled, and Mantou cleared his throat with obvious embarrassment.

It was Haoyun who eventually spoke again, nodding back to the projected video. "So, since we are practically family, were Ladybug and Cat Noir lovers?"

Adrien looked down at his shaking hands. "What did your dad say?"

"He said love is not something that can be contained, and he was happy to have a place in Mama's heart alongside other good people."

Adrien had to admit that it was a good line. "I wish I could have met him. Anyway, no, Ladybug and Cat Noir were not lovers."

"But you loved her?"

"More than anything." He felt his eyes welling with tears. "I still love her. I never stopped. Even when she left. Even when she died. I just kept loving her." He felt the gazes of Marinette's twin children on him, but he couldn't bring himself to look at their faces. He was old enough, mature enough, to admit to himself that he was terrified of what he would see. "Was she happy?"

"Yes," Haoyun said, her voice barely a whisper. "She was smiling when she passed."

That brought a smile back to Adrien's own face. Not a model smile, a real one. "Good."

"So, now will you train me, Mister Cat Noir Adrien Agreste shaky model superhero man?"

Adrien looked up at her. Haoyun's shoulders were squared, and she was leaning forward in a practiced curve that would convey eagerness without revealing any kind of vulnerability. She truly was a better model than he had ever been, but that wasn't what she was asking, was it?

Red dress, black tuxedo. Twin siblings. Fifteen and a half. Watching Ladybug videos.

He looked at Mantou. "You, too?"

Mantou nodded. "I need to know how to protect her. They say you were the best."

"They're _full_ of it." Adrien eyed the purse in Haoyun's hands and - now that he knew what to look for - the slight bulge in Mantou's jacket where there shouldn't be a pocket. Feeling his smile getting wider, he called out, "What, you thought I'd look in their blue-bell eyes and fall all over myself trying to say yes fast enough? Play fair, guys!"

The bulge in Mantou's pocket moved, and familiar green eyes peeked out from just above where the jacket was buttoned. Then a dark, cat-shaped creature flew out into the night air, twirling around the balcony before settling in Adrien's lap.

By then, a similar pink creature was landing there as well, having emerged from Haoyun's handbag.

"Hello, Adrien," Tikki said.

"Do you still," Plagg added, "stock Camembert?"

He put on a show of rolling his eyes. "Try as I might, it seems I haven't quite been able to convince my staff to stop buying the stuff. Somehow, the legend persists that I get urgent cravings for it, even though I don't employ anyone who knew me before I was thirty-three, so there's always a supply hanging around somewhere." The way Plagg's expression lit up filled Adrien with more life than he'd felt in a long, long time. He almost regretted asking, "Please tell me the fifteen-and-a-half-year-olds weren't picked because of their DNA?"

Plagg snorted. "Just luck of the draw, kid. Turns out that Ladybug was as good at mothering as she was at making war on Hawk Moth. These two were picked for who they are, not whose spawn they were."

"So, if you have new Chosen, then there's another rogue kwami out there?"

With how disproportionately large Tikki's eyes were, he couldn't miss the sorrow that flickered across them. "We need your help, Adrien. When we told the children that you were the best, we weren't lying."

He shook his head. "Marinette was always better than me. Everyone knew that."

"The best at _what you did,_ " Plagg put in. "These kids have been fighting together for a month and she's still tying them both up in her yo-yo. They need to learn how to work together. You and the cookie-girl figured it out, but you were always the one strategizing how to boost your partner, while she worried about the rest of the situation. Come on, kid, help us out?"

"What's with the 'kid' stuff?! I turn forty today!"

"So? I turned six thousand last June."

Well, from that perspective, maybe Adrien was still something like a kid. Except when he looked back to the hopeful pair of fifteen(-and-a-half)-year-olds, he felt every one of his years in his shaking body. They were seeing him like this, seeing what an old washed-up superhero looks like, and they were still eager to have him teach them. They were still eager to be heroes.

They were truly their mother's children. Marinette's children. The children he had wanted to give her.

Adrien sighed and said, "You two better be ready to learn."

It was Haoyun who spoke for the both of them: "Xiexie, Kitty-Daddy."

Oh.

Oh no, 'Kitty-Daddy' was not going to be a thing that would be happening.

And yet, looking at two pairs of blue eyes that were oh so familiar, he knew he was going to be on the losing side of that fight.


End file.
